To produce oil or gas from a reservoir, a well is drilled into a subterranean formation, which may be the reservoir or adjacent to the reservoir. A well includes a wellhead and at least one wellbore from the wellhead penetrating the earth. Typically, a wellbore must be drilled thousands of feet into the earth to reach a hydrocarbon-bearing formation. Generally, as the depth of the formation increases, the static pressure and temperature of the formation increases.
After a wellbore is drilled, it may often be necessary to fracture the subterranean formation to enhance hydrocarbon production, especially in tight formations like shales and tight-gas sands. Access to the subterranean formation can be achieved by first creating an access conduit from the wellbore to the subterranean formation. Then, a fracturing fluid is introduced at pressures exceeding those required to maintain matrix flow in the formation permeability to create or enhance at least one fracture that propagates from at least one access conduit. The fracturing fluid is followed by a treatment fluid comprising a proppant particle to prop the fracture open after pressure from the fluid is reduced.
As used herein, “proppant particles” and “proppants” may be interchangeable and refer to any material or formulation that can be used to hold open at least a portion of a fracture. It should be understood that the term “particulate” or “particle,” and derivatives thereof as used in this disclosure, includes all known shapes of materials, including substantially spherical materials, low to high aspect ratio materials, fibrous materials, polygonal materials (such as cubic materials), and mixtures thereof.